Why I Like David Brooks

My college roommate Sam has asked me why I like David Brooks. His comment to my last post was this:

But I can't believe that Brooks is your idol. My dad said this about him the other day: "All his columns are the same. They go right...then left...then right...then left...then RIGHT!!!" Picture my dad moving his hands back and forth and shouting on that last one. You should do another post on why he's your idol.

First, Sam's dad is a very prominent academic. And I mean very with a capital VERY ... so let me tread lightly. For my money, if David Brooks has written something, I almost always think that it's worth 10 minutes of my time. As far as his politcs go, he is to the right of me, but I will always read his columns ... people don't have to be Keith Olbermann for me to like them.

Hell, I read the Drudge Report.

Back to Brooks, and why...

1. He places a premium on ideas -- In his columns, I can see the internal discourse that is happening. While I may end up a partisan, I do not go there unreflectively. A lot of my thoughts and feelings are developed through dialogue, and that to me, is a good thing. I go to him to satisfy that philosopher in me, and I am happy about that.

For instance, you can look at this column "The Class War Before Palin," and you can see how while he values the intellectual inquiry more than the output.

On a non-partisan issue, I thought his post on China, "Harmony and the Dream," was one of the most insightful pieces on China that I have ever read.

2. He does take stands -- I mean ... read "Hoping It's Biden." or "Why Experience Matters". for instance, he writes:

I would have more sympathy for this view [of the everyman in public office] if I hadn’t just lived through the last eight years. For if the Bush administration was anything, it was the anti-establishment attitude put into executive practice.

3. You don't know where he's going ... and he's insightful without being preachy - Contrary to Sam's dad's views, I don't think he is so predictable. He can do 1) and 2) and do it in an accesible way for everyone. He makes me laugh and think at the same time. See "Suprise Me Most":

The candidates probably won’t take this kind of advice. But remember: Weirdness wins. Surprise me most.

I have no problem with people being centrists. These are hard issues that people are calling, and there is an internal dialogue that needs to be asked for a thorough examination. For me, he is the intellectual conscience of democratic liberty. If you want to follow what I think you can check me out on del.icio.us.

Or to say another way, I think of David Brooks on my shoulder whispering, "Yeah you all can vote, but you have to really think to earn it ... let me help."

That's worth 10 minutes for me. I mean, who's better?

Prediction: The Right Brained Person Will Win Tonight's Debate

I actually don't know who it will be tonight, but I had a feeling who it has been.

During last week's second debate, I posted on Facebook that I was shocked how often I felt McCain focused on saying "I" a lot, and how much Obama focused on "you."

I wanted to check this, and did a quick word count on the 2nd debate transcript and here is the breakdown:

	I	You
Obama	127	107
McCain	153	106

This is a very narrow test, but it confirms my gut feeling and I think the larger political critique of McCain's seeming disconnected with voters, especially in a town hall meeting.

This was supported by my columnist idol, David Brooks, surely no liberal, who explained this about Obama's right brained empathic abilities:

And the other thing that does separate Obama from just a pure intellectual: he has tremendous powers of social perception. And this is why he's a politician, not an academic. A couple of years ago, I was writing columns attacking the Republican congress for spending too much money. And I throw in a few sentences attacking the Democrats to make myself feel better. And one morning I get an email from Obama saying, 'David, if you wanna attack us, fine, but you're only throwing in those sentences to make yourself feel better.' And it was a perfect description of what was going through my mind. And everybody who knows Obama all have these stories to tell about his capacity for social perception.

Casting my personal politics aside (I am admittedly in the bag for "That One"), I would caution against the idea that the financial crisis has moved this debate and election is really about hard core left-brained pocketbook policy ideas.

I would say this has always been much more about the right brained abilities. I hope my author idol/BFF, Dan Pink, would agree.

I actually don't care what the New York Times says, that's what I am watching for tonight, regardless of who "wins."

Scraping through the New Yorker veneer

When I lived in the West Village, I once knocked over a small, elderly lady in a grocery store. I turned the corner from the pasta aisle to the oil aisle and then my very large 25 lb. backpack hit knocked her over mid-turn.

Obviously, she was irate and I remember the following line, "How can you walk like that? That's like another person in there!"

I looked at her and said, "Ma'am, I am sorry. But it looks like you are going to live."

She looked at me blankly at first. And then burst in to enormous laughter. And then I joined in. I saw her later at the seafood counter, and we shared another good laugh.

It was definitely a New York moment -- one that I will never forget.

* * * * *

I was watching the Daily Show and I was reminded how much I would really like to take issue with the people that people are rude. Watch this clip of Sarah Vowell of NPR fame. (sorry for the crappy embedding)






I realized that I felt the same way.

I too went to public schools.

I too grew up in, well not Wasilla, but in Ohio.

I too came to New York grudgingly. In short, my wife made me, or it was curtains for our relationship.

I too believed that the city was dirty, people are rude, and its cost prohibitive to have fun.

But now I am in that latter camp that Sarah mentioned, I don't understand why every dumps on New Yorkers as a bunch of arugula-eating elitists.

I think that it's just that most think that New Yorkers are rude, and I'd like to dispell that.

What my fellow Midwesterners need to realize that New Yorkers live in a paradoxical quandary of space. Basically, we have none to ourselves. So, we all have defense mechanisms .... they can be sunglasses, our iPods, or sometimes a just pretending we are talking on our cell phone.

But it is just a veneer. We don't have space of our own, so we have a natural inclination to defend. However, you can imagine one thing that New Yorkers are good at as another consequence is that we are great at sharing. I mean, how else are you going to pack 8 million people into a city (oh and by the way, make it the safest big city in America, so sayeth the FBI)?

Of course, we could reach out, and I personally do my part to try and help lost tourist souls midtown. We need to be more proactive in that end, and we are working on that.

But in the meanwhile, please don't be afraid to approach us, or ask us for help. We are some of the best sharers in the world. Yes we have our quirks, but who doesn't.

My encouragement to everyone is to just scrape through the New Yorker veneer. On the subway, in Times Square, at Ground Zero-- ask us a question. I think you too, might be suprised.

Internet Snakes on a Plane

(I admit the title has nothing to do with the post ... I've been wanting to say it for a while)

Currently flying to San Francisco, and I am heartened by the fact that I have finally been able to get wireless access on a place, and it is pretty decent via GoGo.

Bandwidth results from Speakeasy ...
Download Speed: 2792 kbps (349 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 216 kbps (27 KB/sec transfer rate)

Let's see how it impacts productivity ... could be up or down ...